In the service::Norwich native and 1964 Norwich Free Academy graduate Edward Banas followed in the footsteps of his uncle, and many of his high school classmates, when he enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1965. Banas was sent to Vietnam in 1966 as tensions rose toward the height of the conflict. He worked as a military police officer, doing vehicle and stationary patrols in the coastal city of Quinhon from 1966 to 1967. Toward the end of his service, he volunteered for a different assignment, as a gunner on medical helicopters through the 87th Evac Hospital unit. While he came back unscathed, many of his friends weren’t so lucky — a lot of his classmates died in Vietnam, he said.

After service: Banas put his military police skills to use in his hometown as a Norwich police officer. He left the force after 14 years to open his own clothing store in the city. He married and raised five children. His brother-in-law signed him up for the Jewett City Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 10004 in 1967, and Banas worked his way up through the VFW ranks to become national commander of the organization in 2003-04. As commander, he traveled to Vietnam twice and with his wife Sandra, met President George W. Bush and defense leaders to advocate for veterans. He also helped open relations with the Russian version of the VFW, the Soviet Brotherhood, and persuade the Russian government to open its archives to families whose loved ones had been missing there for decades.

Quotable:The average age of a Vietnamese person is 34. More than half the country doesn’t remember the war. They don’t have communism there any more. They have a totalitarian state, one run by families that send their children to the West for education. They want the fast cars, the capitalism. We won the war because we won the hearts of the people we were there to fight. And we’ll win the war because communism is gone, totalitarianism will blow into the South China Sea and capitalism will prevail. Democracy will follow.”